Anyone else feel intimitated by job descriptions?

PlutoinCapricorn

Yes, very much so even after decades of working. They make it seem as though God himself wouldn't be good enough. Luckily I have been self empliyed for a while now, so have escaped from all that.

You need to realise that language has been devalued: I saw one job that required "excellent communication skills", and it was for moving stuff in a warehouse! It is only people such as diplomats who need to communicate at a very high level.

It is best to just think about what actually the job entails, and what sort of people normally do that sort of job.

Pupnik

Yes job descriptions can be full of rubbish. In one of my previous jobs I saved the advert they used when they were looking for my replacement and used some of their ridiculous terms on my CV

I think some of the best (by which I mean worst) are when they ask for all kinds of knowledge and experience of working in a specific industry- 5 years in that field, an expert in a whole range of high end computer programmes etc, but then advertise the salay as something like £14k- clearly a job aimed at someone who needs to build up their knowledge and experience if that is the salary!

I also seem to come across a lot of extremely vague ones which don't really tell you anything about the job- how do they expect to find the right person like that?

Esoog

I think a lot of "companies" try to put off time wasters/inappropriate applications by making things sound complicated, you have to read between the lines a bit.


Although it does seem that many employers seem to want a ready made perfect replacement to stroll into a job, did the people writing these adverts just waltz into their job? Or did they build their skills, or heaven forbid be taught the skills etc required by the company???

I saw a letter from a civil servant recently who was complaining about lack of attainable posts; she was well educated and loaded with quals but worked in a "low level" post. She had seen posts at the same grade advertised but with ridiculous experience and qualifications wanted; ie someone with the experience and quals would not accept such a low paid job. She was making the point that the idea of these "low level" jobs was you were meant to be able to transfer to different parts of government gaining skills/knowledge/experience with ease - but no line managers were willing to take the time to try and 'teach' employees.

Annisele

I spend the vast majority of my working day doing "any other duties that may reasonably be allocated from time to time". I don't think that's all that unusual.

I've also had one job where I ended up doing *nothing* that was in the original job description. It turned out that I was really good at something a colleague was terrible at, and vice versa - so we gradually swopped tasks until we were doing each other's jobs. We were both the same grade and in the same department, so nobody cared.

I think that if you like the sound of something, you should apply for it. Employers write down all the things they'd like in their ideal candidate, but they don't necessarily expect to have that person walk through their door prepared to accept the salary they're paying.